July 16, 2024
Among thousands of cars that have contested the Historic Leyburn Sprints over the years, unquestionably none could be as fast as Mark Pickering’s debut entry in 2024, a G-Force Aurora Oldsmobile from the Indy Racing League.
How fast? 220.097 miles an hour (354.21 kmh) on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in qualifying for the 1999 Indy 500.
After rebuilding the car recently, Pickering is looking forward to his first event but isn’t expecting to break records. Set up for Indy’s 2.5 mile (4.0 km) banked oval, first gear might be all Pickering needs! He can expect to see smaller, more nimble single-seaters set faster times.
In fact, the retiree’s main intention is just to give spectators a thrill and a glimpse of the type of car not seen in Australia since the days of the Gold Coasty IndyCarnival.
“It’s an awesome car and I can’t wait to drive it. It will be fun just to put it on track and let people see something they’ve never seen before. And the noise should be something else!”
